Upcycled Rug, Revisited

Since it’s our first post of the month, we wanted to revisit the overhaul Jordan did on a rug that gets a lot of use in her home. It was a popular post, and we hope you enjoy seeing it again. The good news is that it is holding up and still looks great. As I look at this photo, I miss the way the area looks now with the spiffy mini-mudroom that Mr. Spring built. You might want to check it out, too.

See the rug? Gracie insisted on being included in the picture. It (the rug – not Gracie) is my project – rug painting, take two. You might remember the rug painting project that didn’t go as planned so I decided to try again. This little throw rug is in a heavy traffic area and is used all of the time. It is at the top of a few stairs that we have to use every time we enter or leave our house. It was starting to show its age even after I vacuumed it and deep-cleaned it. So, being the trooper that I am, I decided to try painting it.

Here is a close up, and it’s not pretty. I decided that painting it black was the best choice since it would cover the ugly stains and hide the dirt from our shoes. I didn’t want a plain black rug. I wanted to add something else to it. So, I thought hmmm….. let’s try the monogram.

I decided to paint everything black except a circle in the center. Inside the circle I would try to stencil our custom monogram. I looked around the kitchen and liked the size of our wok and thought it would be the perfect size circle to have.

I took a marker and traced my circle and then painted everything black outside of the circle.

I did not prime it like I did on the last rug which was a failure. I went straight to the black paint. I used both a roller and a sponge. It did take a couple of coats, and I had to work the paint into the rug in some areas. However, black was the way to go to get good coverage. Already this is turning out better than rug number one.

This is where I continued the experiment, and I wasn’t sure if things were going to work. I spent some time with my Silhouette Cameo and made a stencil of our monogram that was designed by an artist and given to us by my parents as an engagement gift. I was thrilled when it came out perfectly, and I placed it in the circle to see how it would look. I was happy and decided to start stenciling. This was the hard part because there were such fine lines on the monogram. It was a tedious job.